Sanction of the Heart: Remix
by kbxshadow
Summary: The edited and revised edition of an old story. A Kingdom Hearts 2 and Super Smash Brothers crossover. Master Hand calls upon the expertise of the original KH hero to resolve mysterious conflicts assailing the realm of Nintendo. Various OCs included.
1. Prologue

"Let's explore!"

Such innocent words and intentions somehow wound two characters in a dark passageway seemingly leading to nowhere. Looking back over their shoulders, they saw no light that could lead them back to the entrance of the passageway. Mistrustful of both the path ahead of them and behind, they decided – after a short argument – proceeding ahead along the path was their best bet.

This decision may have been a sound one, but they noticed as they continued along the passage, that familiar creatures assailed them in – at first – sparse numbers and rather weakly. The existence of the creatures themselves alarmed both characters, two young men holding swords in their hands.

The creatures, little monsters sporting glowing yellow eyes and black antennae, easily fell to their swords, but their numbers increased as the pair continued along the passage.

During a brief reprieve, the two characters faced each other, warily going into conversation.

"It's a good thing that sword of yours glows so much, Tristan," one of the boys remarked. "At least I can kinda see what's going on around here."

Tristan relaxed his sword hand, allowing the blade, swimming and glowing with a myriad of colors, to sink to the ground. He paused, sighed, and hesitatingly replied, "I guess it's a good thing I'm a sort of walking lantern?" He knitted his brow and finally voiced his concern. "Listen Sora, I know Heartless exist as long as humans hold darkness in their hearts, but it's pretty darn concentrated around here. I know you've noticed that they're growing in numbers the deeper we get into this place. Which is weird as it is because they're not supposed to show up like the remains of some army like this, especially on Destiny Islands."

Sora considered for a moment, mussing his own spiky hair as he contemplated. He finally shrugged. "Sorry, Tristan, I don't know what to make of things either. The number of Heartless in here is making me a little uneasy, but we shouldn't let it get to us yet, is what I think."

"So, what, you're saying we should keep plowing through these guys and see what's at the end?"

Sora nodded in affirmation. "Exactly. And since I don't know what to expect at the end, especially because I don't have Donald and Goofy with me anymore, you," He paused here to pat Tristan's shoulder, "can come with me. Your powers are pretty much Donald's and Goofy's combined, and you're one of my best friends, so I know I can count on you."

"Ha, alright then, Keyblade Master," Tristan snorted, indicating Sora's blade, seemingly a large key. "Good to know you're not allowing yourself to get too overconfident."

"There's some things that I can't do on my own," Sora replied, grinning. "So I'll be counting on you for those things, alright, Sir Mageknight?"

After Tristan gave a shrug, Sora warmly patted his friend's shoulder again before continuing along the passage, cutting down Heartless that dared try to leap at him. Tristan followed behind Sora, keeping attackers from the back from getting too near him and his companion.

The pair kept plowing ahead, but as they noticed their steps begin to echo, they slowed down to a walk, warily looking around.

Tristan felt that the path he and Sora traveled actually inclined a little, so upon hearing his own echoing steps, he began to dread going any further.

And well that he found continuing ahead a bit daunting, for as he stepped forward to meet Sora, he felt the air around him suddenly stagnate, leaving an unnerving drafty scent. He found the atmosphere around him too hollow, too open, _too freaking big_. Seeing a set of glowing steps ahead of him still steadily inclining, Tristan let out a groan and fell to his knees, a nauseous sense of vertigo suddenly assailing him.

Sora looked to his companion, sighing. "We're not even on the steps yet, and you already can't handle the fact we're probably somewhere high up."

"I knew that path was steadily inclining," Tristan whimpered. "I knew it, I knew it, I really did know it…"

Sora strained his eyes ahead, ignoring Tristan in his agony. "Oh, look!" he suddenly exclaimed. "There's a door on top of the steps!" Grabbing Tristan by the collar of his vest and forcing him to his feet, Sora pointed ahead. "You see it? There's a door!"

"And tell me what's so great about that?"

"Oh come on, you need to focus! There's darkness leaking from that door!"

Tristan sighed in exasperation, looking down and away from the dizzying height, only to see a pair of ominously glowing yellow eyes staring up at him. Silently praying to himself, Tristan lifted his eyes to the rest of the area just before the steps. Noticing more sets of yellow eyes glinting into wakefulness and staring at his and Sora's direction, though, Tristan shook his head in denial. He felt he knew what kind of doom awaited him next.

Sora had also taken a note of the eyes glowing and staring at them. He let out a whistle and readied his Keyblade. "Looks like we stumbled into a Shadow Nest," he nonchalantly remarked. "The best way to get an upper hand would probably be to take those steps. You ready, Tristan?"

"No, of course not!" Tristan cried. "You're saying you're going to take me up those stairs all the way to the top, where we have a good chance of falling off and plummeting to our deaths without anyone here in this world to know what in the hey happened to us?"

"Yeah, I do," Sora simply answered. "And don't yell so much, you'll make them come after us."

Panic, however, caused Tristan to do the exact opposite: "Don't yell? _Don't yell?_ What do you expect me to do when we're already the prey of these things, Sora? We're already going to be attacked by them, and you're suggesting that we go even higher up into more danger?"

"Tristan, calm down, you're freaking way too much. Even you know that higher ground's a more strategic place to be at if we're going to be attacked."

"Stop, just stop…I'm not going up those steps. You hear me, Sora? _I'm not going up those steps_."

Sora, seeing the Heartless begin to stir and take better notice of his and Tristan's presence, merely sighed and put a hand on his companion's shoulder again. "Just trust me on this one," Sora started. "That's all you need to do. Trust me and follow me."

"I'm not-!"

"Sword at the ready, Tristan! Let's go!"

Now more afraid for Sora recklessly plowing through the Shadow Nest, Tristan quickly followed behind his friend, swiping his sword to send bursts of wind through the Heartless piling on top of Sora. Free from the creatures, Sora continued along, hacking away at the Heartless blocking his path, finally making his way to the glowing steps. Tristan stopped before the stairs, but had no time to turn around to make his getaway: Sora grabbed him by the collar of his vest and pulled him to the stairs.

And what a miracle. As soon as Tristan stepped onto the stairs, a glowing wall of light descended on the first step, blocking the Heartless from continuing any further. Two statues also materialized into view, flanking both sides of the glowing wall.

And now a voice: _The brothers will guard the First Step. Hold no fear and continue on._

Sora gazed at the statues, one of a somewhat portly man with a red cap and overalls, the other taller, skinnier, and with green as his theme. "Wow, they do seem like brothers," Sora commented, holding back a laugh.

"I don't know if we have time to be observing, Sora!" Tristan exclaimed. "Dusks!"

Sora whirled around to find his friend deftly sliding behind a gaunt, white, fleshless creature before dealing a mortal downward swipe that immediately purged it. Running up the stairs to meet his friend, Sora looked genuinely concerned. "Yeah, now I'm worried. Dusks. Nobodies. Just great."

Another barrier went up behind Sora and Tristan, along with another two statues guarding the barrier. One statue was a princess in a pink dress, the other a mirror reflection of the red-capped man, but this time in a doctor's clothing. _The healers of the Mushroom Kingdom will guard the Second Step. Hold no fear and continue on._

Sora shrugged. "I guess that means keep going." He gave Tristan a light punch on the shoulder. "The voice says 'hold no fear.' So suck it up and let's go."

The pair continued their climb, again hacking aside the Nobodies that stood in their way. The barrier descended behind them, and another two statues materialized into view: one of an adorable green dinosaur, the other a giant ape. _Supporting creatures will guard the Third Step. Hold no fear and continue on._

Sora and Tristan did not stop to consider this time, and ascended further up the stairway.

After disposing of the Nobodies ahead again, a black barrier descended this time, and the two statues that flanked the barrier – one a giant turtle with a spiky shell, the other a tall dark man sporting an evil sneer – gave off black auras laced with sparks of white and flashes of purple._ Continue on to the next barrier, to keep the Fourth Step from gaining its dark power._

The pair quickly complied and ran ahead, rushing up the steps and continuing the pattern: dispose of the Nobodies, watch the barrier come up, receive assurance from the voice, and continue on.

The Fifth Step thankfully had no corruption eating at it, and was guarded by similar statues: both were of boys wearing green tunics and hats, sporting a sword in their left hands and shields in their right. One was definitely older than the other, though.

Another princess, but with a more solemn countenance, and a young boy sporting a red cap and striped shirt guarded the Sixth Step.

A man saluting in a blue racer's uniform and another person in full body armor and arm cannon guarded the Seventh Step.

A fox holding a gun and a blue falcon striking a pose guarded the Eighth Step.

The Ninth Step was guarded by a pink puffball and a pair of children, twins, sporting similar parkas and hammers.

The Tenth Step had a pair of mouse-like creatures flanking the barrier. One seemed older with its bigger body and longer tail, bent like a lightning bolt. The other seemed more like a baby, with a stubby black tail and lighter yellow body.

A lavender and purple creature, its gaunt features denoting it as a mutant, sporting a thick tail and glowing eyes guarded the Eleventh Step with another pink puffball with great eyes and a frond of curly bangs. Their polarity seemed to keep the barrier intact.

Regal heroes guarded the Twelfth Step; both statues were of young men fit to be leaders of a nation. Both sported similar medieval motifs. One, however, possessed a certain grace in his posture, emphasized even more by the slim blade in his hand. The other carried a clumsier, stockier composure, denoted by the awesome golden claymore he effortlessly wielded with one hand. Both young men still exuded an aura of innocence.

Tristan and Sora were rather fascinated by the system of barriers and guardians erected along the stairway. They, however, had no time to remain in awe. A great pair of doors stood in their way, and was open ajar, enough that both could see a dark aura leaking out of the doors.

"What do you think?" Sora asked Tristan. "Should we go through? It's already open."

Tristan gazed at the doorknobs, a pair of hands spread with their palms up, as if inviting someone to grab them and open the doors. A little flat black figure seemed to dance around the doorknobs as well. "I don't know," he finally replied, uncertainty in his voice. "It's true that I'm a little worried about what's going on around here, especially that darkness oozing out of those doors."

Sora considered a moment, then approached the doors. "I've been thinking, Tristan," he started. "I wonder if there's a separate Kingdom Hearts beyond the one we know."

Taken aback by the sudden deep question, Tristan raised a brow. "That's hard to say," he replied. "I never even thought of that one."

"Don't you think it would explain why there are Heartless and Nobodies wandering around here? There's something pure beyond this door that they want to get their hands on."

"But why Kingdom Hearts? In natural circumstances, the Heartless and Nobodies don't care about getting to Kingdom Hearts. They'd only care if people like the Organization was behind them pulling their strings."

"That's my point," Sora replied. "They haven't been much of a threat in our world. But what if they were able to cross over into another world? What if, say, the Organization's back, but in a different dimension?"

Tristan bit his lip. "That makes sense, actually."

"We should at least see what's going on beyond here," Sora reinforced. "Just an investigation. If things turn out to be bigger than we thought, then we clean up whatever's going on. If not, we just find our way back to this place, head back to Destiny Islands, and tell the others that we just did a lot of exploring and weren't able to come back for some time. It's like an RPG game or fanfiction where no one really cares about what happens to us as long as we have some kind of story that somewhat makes sense."

"Huh. I guess that's one way to think about it: from the eyes of an audience beyond an imaginary wall."

"Say what again?"

"Never mind. So we're going through the doors?"

Sora grinned. "You bet!" He grabbed the doorknobs, which, being hands, grasped Sora's and refused to let him go until he opened the doors enough to allow himself and Tristan to slip in.


	2. Chapter 1

The doors opened to a glowing bridge that spanned far out into the horizon, at least as far as Tristan and Sora could see. Even straining their eyes ahead and craning their heads forward availed them nothing in terms of seeing the end of the bridge. What more, this shining path of light suspended in midair seemed the only spectacle in the unknown realm. The air and sky, hued inky black, perturbed the pair to a degree, but allowed them one idea:

"I guess we just keep walking along this glowing path?" Sora voiced for himself and his companion. Nothing answered his voice as it echoed into the black, but he nonchalantly shrugged off the eerie surroundings and marched on.

Tristan tried to reassure himself as he trudged on behind his sprightly friend. "At least I can't tell how far up we are, and at least we're kind of given a direction to go…"

"You sound unsure. What's up?"

"We've never been here, is what's up."

Sora looked around for a moment, then shrugged again. "There isn't much we can do about that, now is there? I mean, I understand you'd want to be careful, but we have to take risks." He patted Tristan's shoulder and confidently went on. "You and me, we're a good team. Things will be fine."

Even doubtful Tristan couldn't stifle the slight smile that Sora's confidence evoked.

Their steps began to echo as they continued on along the glowing path, which shined brightly beneath them with a light of purity. After what seemed like an eternity of walking along this bridge, the pair stopped and looked at each other.

"How long do you think this path's going to go?" Sora asked. "We've been going ahead for a while now, don't you think?"

"It's hard to approximate time here," Tristan agreed. He looked back over his shoulder, in the direction they had come from. "Can't even see that door anymore. Either we've come a long way or the door's disappeared, meaning we can't really turn back."

Sora curled his lip. "You weren't thinking of running back, were you?"

"Of course not! What do you take me for? A coward?"

"No, I take you as a friend whose cautiousness will be the death of him."

The two began their stroll again, with Tristan expressing his protest. "So you're saying the fact that I'm more careful than you is a fault?"

Sora considered, putting a finger to his lips in contemplation. "Hmmm. Yes and no, actually," he concluded. "Yes because it actually slows us down sometimes, and no because you've saved my neck a lot of times just by being as careful as you are."

"Huh, can't leave you to all of that recklessness you pride yourself for. You'd kill the both of us."

"That's why I'm saying we're a good team." Sora pointed to Tristan. "You're the brains." Then he indicated himself. "And I'm the brawn. Pretty straightforward if you ask me. Though, you know, I'm not _that_ stupid."

Tristan gave his companion a slight cuff. "You wish you weren't."

"Hey, hey, watch the insults there. You'll hurt my feelings."

The two continued to josh each other as they continued along the path of light, providing for a more relaxed air to their present surroundings. At long last, the path forked into two, but both ways stood heavily barred by locked doors, as they quickly found out when they tried both.

"More locked doors," Sora snorted. "Any bright ideas, Tristan?"

But Tristan, noticing something on the ground in front of the left door, had already crouched low to examine the item. Picking it up between his thumb and index finger, he turned the object – apparently a fragment of some intricately engraved _thing_ – in a myriad of directions, trying to make sense of the item. Noticing Sora staring with a mystified expression, Tristan could only shrug before he stood from his crouch, pocketing the fragment. "I'm not sure what it is," he said, "but I'll hold on to it, just in case."

Well that he decided to do so, as the click of a lock undone resounded, and the door on the left opened.

Sora wasted no time pulling his companion through the opened door and continuing along the path of light. From beyond the wasteland of black, a hazy white shimmered into view. The pair sped on to the haze and raced on through, ending up on a wide platform overlooking a shimmering ocean on a sunset background.

The sudden burst of light dispelled the inky black and glimmering bridge, leaving Sora and Tristan hovering in midair with a golden ocean all around. Being the acrophobic he was, Tristan immediately backed away from the edge of the platform and negotiated past Sora to the middle and crouched low to lessen the scope of his vision.

He unfortunately had no time to recover from another sudden attack of vertigo, as what appeared as two large dismembered hands, floated along from the sunset sky beyond.

Sora stared a moment at the two hands, then folded his arms across his chest. "Don't tell me. You're the guiding hands of Fate and Destiny or something like that, and have pulled us from our world to yours in order to help you two out with something Heartless and Organization XIII and Kingdom Hearts-related. Right?"

"Fate and Destiny, no," the right hand stoically replied. "Pulled you two from your worlds…eh, kinda. And all that nonsense about Heartless and Organization XIII and Kingdom Hearts: how are we supposed to know? I baited you two here to explain to us what's going on. We don't necessarily need _you_ to take care of anything."

Sora's eyes widened with the hand's blunt and cold answer. Clearly this was not the answer he expected.

The left hand laughed maniacally. "Bro's got a weird sense of humor, kid, don't worry. He's just kidding."

"I was _not_ kidding, Crazy Hand; I meant every word," the right hand pointedly stated. "If I'm going to be on the receiving end of this kind of cheek, then I could very well just send them back. No one can blame me if this whole entire universe falls to ruin. I could just create it again."

Crazy Hand ruefully flopped himself. "But that would take _eons_, Master Hand. And you know yourself you can't create the same exact world as we have now! So pish tush and fiddle dee dee to the idea of sending them back! I like what we have now, and we're going to salvage it. So there!"

"Point taken, my feverish and idiot brother," Master Hand sighed. Ignoring Crazy Hand's vehement protests, he seemed to direct his attention to Sora. "Let us start this over. I am Master Hand, Spirit of Creation and creator of this World of Trophies. And that," Master Hand paused here to point at his brother, "is my twin brother Crazy Hand, Spirit of Destruction, and what will perhaps ultimately be the apocalypse of the World of Trophies. Excuse his bouts of insanity; there is no cure for what he was named for."

"Sorry about my attitude from before," Sora replied, grinning sheepishly. "I'm Sora, and the fellow cowering at the middle of the platform is my partner-in-arms, Tristan. He's a little iffy about heights, you know, so don't mind him too much."

"Aww, poor fellow," Crazy Hand cooed, lightly poking Tristan a few times. "That means he won't like flying too much, huh? I was going to take you for a cruise, you know, get you some air and hopefully get some color back into your face."

Tristan made a severe glance in Sora's direction. "I can still hear, you know," he growled.

Sora waved the threatening expression aside and looked to Master Hand. "So what's the business?"

Master Hand sighed. "Oh, a lot of things. Thirteen people in black trenchcoats calling themselves 'The Organization' show up and talk all this nonsense gobbledy-gook about Heartless and Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts and World Cores. Next I'm getting distress signals from my warriors all the way across the universe saying that weird black creatures have amassed their worlds. Then I find out that Archnea's fallen, and Tellius is barely holding on. Something about the Fire Emblem being split into eight pieces, so I have to worry about Yune and Ashera going head-to-head again. And then the goddesses of Hyrule contact me and forward me to you, who I'm guessing is what many are calling the Keyblade Master?"

"It's what a lot of people say."

"Good. Long story short, I, or _we_ I should probably say to count Crazy Hand into the equation, need you and your partner to scout around and tell me what in tarnations is going on."

"Maybe we should start with-"

"-informing me of what Heartless and Nobodies and 'The Organization' and Kingdom Hearts is all about? I'll pass." Master Hand indicated Crazy Hand again, who seemed to have found some amusement in incessantly (thankfully lightly) poking Tristan. "Crazy Hand isn't as stupid as he appears. And there's a reason why I'm called Master Hand. We can do our own research about our enemies, thank you. I just want to send some sort of relief to the places that are giving me the most headaches."

Crazy Hand perked up at this. "Don't you mean 'handaches,' Bro?"

"Pish tush right back at you, Crazy. Same difference."

Sora allowed himself to laugh a little at the Hand Brothers' friendly banter. Casting a sympathetic look to Tristan, he directed his attention back to Master Hand. "We should start as soon as possible, then. The sooner I can get Tristan back to _terra firma_, he should be a little more willing to cooperate. How do we get around?"

"We will direct you to where you need to go," Master Hand promptly replied. "But if I'm not mistaken, save for having a ship to travel in, you'll be traveling in a similar fashion to what you're used to. That path you came along to reach here is the Path of Radiance. As you help out the worlds I direct you to, Crazy Hand will unlock the doors along the path. Of course, you can come back here to Final Destination whenever you like to chat with us. We can spare time in our research."

Crazy Hand gave Sora a harder-than-friendly pat. "I'll also relay messages to you from Master Hand. I can magick more than he can for some weird reason, so I can also take your reports and messages back to Master Hand whenever you want!"

"That's great," Sora replied. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Master Hand scratched the base of his index finger with a thumb, as if scratching his head. "Quite. Don't interfere too much with the fabrics of the places I'm going to send you to. I'll get complaints from the Smash Brothers if I do that too much; they usually don't like it when I come to mediate, but they call on me when they're desperate, those hypocrites…"

"Smash Brothers?" Sora echoed.

Crazy Hand made a spasmodic jerk at the mention of the Brothers. "The Super Smash Brothers. Basically a loose coalition of warriors hand-picked – no pun intended – by me and Master Hand," he excitedly explained. "Great allies to have at your side, and they'll act as guides once you meet up with them." He paused a moment, sinking into deep thought. "You know, though, they probably aren't going to be as chummy as they usually would be since they seem to be so caught up in the stress of this whole creature shebang. They probably won't believe you if you told them you were sent by us to help them out. Bummer."

Tristan voiced his suggestion. "Isn't there any sort of identification we can use to verify ourselves to them?"

"Our symbol!" Crazy Hand exclaimed. Generating a light at the tip of his index finger, he quickly drew a circle and inscribed two lines intersecting at the bottom left area of the circle. He floated back to marvel the masterpiece. "Mm-hm! Spot on! Just draw that for them and they'll believe you. If they still don't want to believe you, just call for me. I'll set them straight."

"And how can we call for you again?"

"Just will me to be there. Bro's right, you know. I'm not stupid!"

Master Hand tried to wave away Crazy Hand's excitement. "Yes, yes, well, I suppose that takes care of whatever we had to tell you two right away. Crazy Hand, take them to…let's see…oh, I suppose we'll say the Mushroom Kingdom for starters. Mario tells me that Star Road's gone missing again."

Crazy Hand attempted to salute, and succeeded in popping a joint in his thumb instead. "Ow…Well, consider your wish a command carried out, Master Hand! Follow behind me, Sora!" Picking Tristan up by the collar of his vest and setting him up on his feet, Crazy Hand snapped his fingers, causing a door to materialize into view. Opening this door, he encouraged the pair out before waving to Master Hand and disappearing into the doorway.

Master Hand sunk a little. "I really hope I'm not too late with picking those two up…"

Outside on the Path of Radiance, Tristan and Sora found themselves back at the fork once again. Crazy Hand indicated the locked door to the right. "I'll unlock this door, and then I'll take off ahead of you guys to open the door to the Mushroom Kingdom. Good luck and all of that, okay?"

* * *

"You can't just take us there?" Sora groaned. "It's a long walk."

"Master Hand says I grip too strong. I'd crush you two into dust if you let me do that."

"Well, we won't die from walking," Tristan reassured. "We can do with a jog or something before some action, anyway."

Crazy Hand gave a thumbs-up and went on to press his index finger to the door, unlocking it and pushing the door open. As he floated through the doorway, he quickly turned around and indicated Tristan. "Hey, you picked up a fragment, right? And it opened the door to Final Destination?"

Tristan considered a moment, then nodded.

"That fragment you picked up's a chunk of the eight pieces of the Fire Emblem. You should find others like it. You'll need it if you want to help out Archnea and Tellius. Trust me on that one."

Laying a hand on the pocket the Fire Emblem piece rested in, Tristan made an acknowledging smile. "I'll keep that in mind, Crazy Hand. Thanks."

Crazy Hand gave another thumbs-up and coasted along ahead of Sora and Tristan, intending to unlock the door to the Mushroom Kingdom and double on back to Master Hand.

Sora gazed ahead through the open doorway and locked eyes with Tristan. "Well, looks like we have a whole new adventure now. What do you think?"

"Should be fun," Tristan stated with optimism. "Should be dramatic. All in all, it'll be an adventure. I think that's all I have to say."

"Simple and clean. A nice way to start off another adventure." Sora gave his companion a friendly punch. "Well, let's get started. First stop, Mushroom Kingdom."


	3. Chapter 2

Luigi, with his telltale green cap and indigo denim overalls, was in his element. Naturally being the faster and more athletic of the Mario Brothers (even though he could never carry the same strength of presence as his older brother), outrunning the horde of black creatures behind him really didn't prove as much of a problem.

The creatures had begun to swarm over Princess Peach's castle when Luigi, deciding to establish himself as a reliable character, had volunteered himself as a decoy, albeit with shaking knees. He remembered seeing his older brother swelling with pride, and really, Mario's proud smile was all the motivation Luigi needed to keep running.

As if the weight of his responsibility didn't fuel his motivation enough, right?

"We need to distract these creatures away from the castle; or at least some of them," Mario had strategically planned. "It's difficult right now to determine if Bowser is behind this chaos, but we can worry about that later. Star Road aside, this castle's defenses are most important. Toad Town won't be standing for much longer if we let these creatures keep running amok!"

Luigi loved Toad Town as much as Mario did, and seeing the hero plumber's features so deeply furrowed to a contemplating frown had made the younger brother decide his subsequent action: "Mario, I can probably gather some of them and distract them away from the castle. You can stay here to guard the princess and everyone else here, and to organize castle defenses with Toadsworth. As long as I have some back-up, I should be able to do it."

Toadsworth, senior Toad attendant to Princess Peach, had let out an agreeing laugh. "Master Luigi can run like blazes, anyway! I'm sure Yoshi will be able to shadow Luigi and provide back-up if the Master should find himself all tuckered out, wot?"

Yoshi, as the representative green dinosaur was named, merely clapped a few times and let out a string of Yoshi gibberish in positive agreement.

Mario looked uncertainly at his younger brother. "Are you sure about this, Luigi?"

Luigi, although shaking helplessly, managed to snap out a smart salute. "Leave it to me, Mario!"

And with that proud smile, Mario had gratefully shook Luigi's hand. "Then I will be counting on you! Pull them away for as long as you possibly can!"

"As long as you possibly can" meant that a couple hours later, Luigi's legs were still propelling him forward as fast as Luigi-ly possible, despite the sharp stabs of pain in his side. Yoshi, fortunately, was no fool to signs of fatigue, and rushed to Luigi's aid.

* * *

So when Tristan and Sora found themselves standing on an open road flanked by forest, they were of course mildly confused by the sounds of a stampeding horde ahead of them. Luckily subscribing to caution, the friends leapt into the forests and watched a moment, long enough to see Luigi on Yoshi's back wailing along as a mass of Heartless pounded relentlessly behind them.

Sora's heroic instincts instantly overwhelmed his rationality. Drawing the Keyblade, he immediately broke cover and rushed straight into the stampeding horde. The sun glinted and flashed off the metal of the Keyblade as it hacked and slashed through the mass of black. Heartless hurtled left and right, most to meet and kiss the rainbow-hued blade of Tristan's sword before disappearing for good.

Yoshi and Luigi could only stare as the two swordsmen dispatched the immediate area of the creatures. A few got away from the experienced duo, but, Luigi figured, hardly enough to cause any trouble for his brother and Peach at the castle. Sliding off of Yoshi's saddle, Luigi tipped his hat to the pair. "Ay…Thank you. You saved my life there."

Sora tapped his own shoulder with the Keyblade, beaming. "It's no problem. Just helped where we thought we could."

Tristan pulled a small vial from one of his belt pockets, handing it to his companion as he shook his head in exasperation. "More like you threw yourself head-first into the carnage and didn't even bother to strategically think out the circumstances." While Sora gratefully took the potion, Tristan went on, directing his attention to Luigi. "Are you okay? That was some horde of Heartless that you managed to outrun there."

Luigi lifted an eyebrow. "'Heartless?' So that's what they're called." After a moment's consideration, he stuck his hand out to Tristan. "I should introduce meself. I'm Luigi of the Mario Brothers." He indicated Yoshi, who obediently nodded his head. "That's Yoshi. Between the two of us, it was no problem to outrun those creatures…Heartless, huh?"

Both Tristan and Sora accepted Luigi's and Yoshi's handshakes, quickly introducing themselves as well. Business immediately came next. Folding his arms across his chest, Sora cocked his head, as if in confusion. "So, Luigi, what's been going on around here?"

Putting a hand to his forehead, Luigi shook his head forlornly, sadly murmuring, "Ay…A lot of things. Which is why I say you two are right on time. You know how to take care of these Heartless creatures. Would you, by any chance, be willing to help us? Princess Peach's castle is under siege by those monsters. It was all I could do to distract some of them to chase after me and Yoshi."

"How many were you able to distract away from the castle?"

Yoshi made a series of babbling sounds as he waved his arms about.

Sora scratched his head, then ventured his guess. "A lot?"

"It felt like it," Luigi agreed. "All I can really remember is this mass of black chasing after me. Hard to say exactly how many."

Tristan bit his lip, looked dejectedly to the ground, and glumly served his conclusion. "Heartless can re-spawn, though. Even if you were able to distract a majority of them away from the castle, it's more than likely they already have replacements at the castle by now." He brought his gaze back up in time to see Luigi's mortified expression. "I'm sorry, Luigi."

Luigi wouldn't listen to apologies, however. "Then we have to get back to the castle! Now! Mario and Peach would want to know!" Hopping into Yoshi's saddle, Luigi took off down the road just as swiftly as he had come, consequently leaving Sora and Tristan in the dust.

"Great going, Tristan," Sora snipped, "you just _had_ to go and give him the worst news he could possibly hear at this point, right? Now we have no guide!"

"Well…Better to know the truth than remain in ignorance, right? I felt bad right after it came out my mouth, but I can't take it back now."

As if to reinforce Tristan's explanation, a low rumbling resonated through the forests, shaking the ground to the point where both Sora and Tristan fell to their knees, unable to properly balance against the earthquake. The shaking ended as quickly as it had begun, leaving the pair staring wide-eyed at each other.

Bolting up and grabbing Tristan by the collar of his vest in one swift movement, Sora turned on his heel and began negotiating his way down the path at a brisk pace, darkly muttering, "Of course you can't take it back now. Least we can do is head in the same direction and see what happened. I don't have any good feelings based on that earthquake."

Tristan managed to wrench himself from Sora's grip, but wisely kept a few paces behind his slightly irritated companion.

* * *

Toad Town, denoted by its large gaudy sign outside the gates, seemed relatively peaceful. As Sora (whose temper had immediately petered out upon witnessing the comical mushroom-like houses of the Toads) and Tristan sauntered through town, though, it became clearly evident that not all was well. Not one local walked the streets. Windows and doors were barricaded with planks of wood stoutly hammered into the walls.

And, of course, there were the odd Shadows that ambled in from someplace beyond town, glowing yellow eyes scanning for some kind of prey. Heartless Soldiers even patrolled the streets as well, helms eerily clanking along.

"This…is pretty bad," Sora voiced for himself and his companion. "It looks like all the townspeople have barricaded themselves inside their homes. Must suck to know that the streets of your own town are unsafe…"

"At least inside their homes, they won't come to much other harm. The Heartless don't seem too keen on trying to break through. And it looks like that earthquake didn't do much damage to this place; just a bunch of leaves scattered everywhere and fountain water sloshed about," Tristan tried to reassure himself. "We still have to do whatever we can to help them, though. I'd hate to leave them like this."

Sora drew the Keyblade again. "Which is why we're here. Let's find the castle. Luigi said the princess and his brother were holed up there."

* * *

A side road leading away from Toad Town led to the slightly destroyed front gates of the castle, where Luigi sat dumbly on the ground, quaking fearfully. Yoshi used a paw to amiably pat his companion in consolation, but no amount of coaxing seemed to snap Luigi out of his stupor. With his gloved hands firmly pulling his hat down over his eyes, Luigi was a sorry picture of sheer terror.

Sora rested the Keyblade on his shoulder as he approached Luigi, then knelt a little to gingerly lay a hand on the latter's shoulder. "Hey, Luigi, what happened? Isn't your brother beyond these gates? What are you doing here?"

"Went through gates…after earthquake…" Luigi reluctantly replied through chattering teeth. "No castle…No one there…"

"No castle?" Sora stood straight and tried to look amused. "You can't be serious."

Tristan strained his ears a moment, then approached the gates and peeped through a considerable crack caused by the prior earthquake. He took a double-take, then shook his head. "He's serious, Sora. Do you hear anything?"

"…No. No, I don't hear anything."

"And I see no castle."

A disbelieving Sora pushed one of the once-solid doors open, but immediately stopped as he stared at the view before him: nary a sign of Heartless, and a gaping hole in the ground where he figured the castle might have been. He whirled back to Luigi, shaking the younger Mario Brother by the shoulder. "Come on, Luigi, what happened? Don't you have any idea?"

Luigi looked to Sora and Tristan from below the bill of his hat, and stilling the chatter of his teeth, took a moment to scratch his head. "Last time this happened, Bowser moved the castle out of its foundations to the sky using the Star Rod." He sighed. "Star Road missing, Star Rod again, Star Spirits, Crystal Stars…I've always wondered how Mario manages."

It was Sora's turn to scratch his head. "We were told 'Mushroom Kingdom,' but this place could just as well be called 'Star Kingdom' or something. That's a lot of 'star' stuff to be worried about."

"Complaints aside," Tristan harrumphed, "what should we do from here? We have theories on how the castle may have disappeared, but we don't seem to have any actual evidence."

Yoshi expressed his suggestion with a series of gurgles and squeals, in conjunction with vehement motions of his arms.

Luigi watched and nodded through Yoshi's explanation before translating for Sora and Tristan. "Yoshi says we might as well investigate what's going on at Star Road, and find out what we need to do in order to restore it. Apparently as long as we can get closer to the Star Sanctuary, we might be able to have a little bit of contact with the Star Spirits, at least enough to maybe grasp some sense of what we need to do." Luigi sighed and shuddered. "But those monsters are that way, so it's obvious they have something to do with what's happened to the castle and Star Road."

Yoshi tried a forceful rap to Luigi's shoulder to pound some form and quantity of courage into the younger Mario Brother.

"I know, I know!" Luigi snapped as he cringed. "This isn't anything like the mansion. Not nearly as scary and at least I don't need a vacuum to fight those monsters." He tried a smile. "Ay, at least as long as Professor E. Gadd doesn't want portraits of them, I won't need the vacuum."

Sora snorted back a laugh. "Imagine how easy it would be if we could defeat Heartless by sucking them up in vacuums!"

"In that case, I wouldn't have any problems calling you the Vacuum Master, Sora," Tristan replied through a small chuckle. "We can definitely see if it'll work."

Placing a firm grip on the Keyblade, Sora shook his head. "No, no really, I'm fine with just this Keyblade. I get a fair amount of respect for it anyway." He looked to Luigi. "Well, Luigi? Star Road's the only lead we have. Wanna go now?"

Standing from his crouch on the ground, Luigi took a moment to brush his denim overalls free of dirt and adjust his hat and gloves. "I don't think I can be any more ready than I am now. I'm frightened, really, for Bro and everyone else, but…but…I guess I'll just have to suck it up, huh?"

Yoshi gave a gentle purr in consolation, then seemed to smile.

"Yoshi says I'm not Player 2 anymore," Luigi translated. "I'm Player 1. I'm the main character, not second or third wheel." He looked to the friendly Yoshi. "I like that. Let's go to Star Road. I can count on you and your friend, right, Sora? I'm going to need your help."

A grin passed between Sora and Tristan before the former answered, "We've just been waiting for you, you know. Let's go!"


End file.
